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Writing

Explore our collection of theological essays, biblical studies, and reflections on faith and culture.

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Marriage

Eating the Meat, or Inviting Colonization?

One common trope which is regularly invoked in current debates about the defensibility versus the danger of Christian engagement with critical theories (or, species of Critical Theory) is the idea of “ eating the meat but spitting out the bones .” Usually not far behind is a nod to the…

by James WoodMarch 2, 2021
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Proverbs

Proverbial Eschatology

I am writing about the book of Proverbs in the Bible and “Eschatology.” I don’t refer only to the end of time, or “last things” that will happen in history before it ends as we know it. I am referring to all times of God’s judgment wherein He ends an…

by Mark HorneFebruary 25, 2021
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Augustine

Primacy of Worship for Political Unity

“Unity” is the word of the day. In his inaugural address, Joe Biden invoked St. Augustine to inspire Americans to come together around certain shared values. As others have recently argued, Biden misreads Augustine in important ways. My argument here is that if we seek political unity and civic health…

by James WoodFebruary 23, 2021
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Matthew

Jesus, the Temple Tax and Four-Fold Atonement

This is part two of a series which began here ( The Half Shekel Temple Tax ) in which I answer back, hoping not to rebut but to glorify, some observations Peter Leithart made in a thought-provoking piece about the Temple Tax as atonement ( Atonement Money ). Adding economic…

by Jerry BowyerFebruary 16, 2021
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American Culture

Wokeness as Post-Protestant Neopaganism

It is now commonplace to characterize Wokeness (or “ Wokeism ”) as a religion , or at least religion-like . What I would like to explore is an elaboration on this emergent consensus, supplementing it with some theological analysis. Wokeness, I propose, is a form of post-Protestant neopaganism. It resembles…

by James WoodFebruary 9, 2021
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Movies

Alien 3: Through New Eyes

Science Fiction movies often retell old stories and myths with greater impact for modern people. A being from another world or a technologically advanced human can embody an ancient god or demon and viewers are suddenly unwittingly enthralled by Ur tales that emerged from hundreds of years of human experience.…

by Jacob GuckerFebruary 2, 2021

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Protestant Sacred Space

S acred Space in Early Modern Europe , edited by Will Coster and Andrew Spicer, aims to fill a gap in accounts of early modern Europe. Despite intense attention to sacred space among anthropologists, scholars of comparative religion, historians, and sociologists, few studies of early modern Europe have paid attention…

April 4, 2017

Disenchanting Protestantism?

S cott Hendrix argues that the Reformation was united by an agenda of Christianization. By “Christianization,” he means, first, the effort “to reform the rituals of late-medieval piety in conformity with sound doctrine” and, second, the goal “to create more sincere and intentional believers by transforming people's minds and hearts”…

April 3, 2017

Pew Wars

Margo Todd's The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland is an extraordinarily rich study. One brief note will serve to illustrate. “A visitor to an early seventeenth-century Scottish church had no difficulty seeing the social structure of the community in the arrangement of seats.” The principle was simple: The…

March 31, 2017
American Politics

Blue State Secession

It's time for “Bluexit,” argues Kevin Baker at The New Republic , a blue-state secession. Here's the thesis: Blues fund most of the federal government, and are responsible for most of the economic output of the country. Red states receive vastly more federal aid than they pay in, and then…

March 31, 2017

Stating the Obvious

M ona Charen states the obvious : “There are good and bad arguments against immigration.” In today's overheated political climate, though, the obvious gets drowned by sensational horrors. The horrors are truly horrific, but they aren't typical. Charen writes, “I am sympathetic to some restrictionist points, but smearing immigrants as…

March 31, 2017

Power in Weakness

I n an essay on Alexander Schmemann (in Ordering Love , 301-2), David L. Schindler observes that “Creaturely power begins in wonder and gratitude before the inherent beauty of the other. The power of creaturely being originates and consists primarily in the beauty of the Other: it is the attractiveness…

March 31, 2017

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